Youth Organize for Social Justice
Fifty-two young people from all over Montana attended the Montana Youth Action Network's Progressive Youth Summit on Friday, October 22 in Missoula. They explored many interesting topics ranging from the drug war to issues around the transgender community. Jere Cockrell, a first time participant in a youth conference said "I've never been to a conference like it before. It was a good opportunity where I met a lot of new people." Another summit attendee, Andrea Cross Guns of Helena said, "If there is ever another one it should be longer."
Young people chose which workshops to attend based around their own interests. Workshops included self-defense training, prejudice-reduction training, presentations on the drug war, reproductive health and LGBTQ youth issues, and the creation of a collaborative theatrical piece entitled "Youth Voices." When asked about the presentation by Aaron Hans, a transgendered person, Hannah Price said, "Oh, I thought it was great! It was eye opening. It wasn't what I expected. I assumed he was a gay male. I learned not take anything for granted and that people are more complicated than they appear."
Andrea Cross Guns had these thoughts on the conference, "I thought the self-defense training was very useful, because the techniques they taught did not focus on strength. They taught you that you could get away from the attacker no matter how big or strong they were." Larisa Wahler, the youth organizer for the event, said, "I was excited that there were so many outstanding youth from all over, with strong opinions and open minds. They continue my faith in the social justice movement."